Category: Archived
Idaho’s Abortion Bans Explained: A Primer on the Complicated Laws that Govern Reproductive Rights in Idaho and the Changes That We Can Make by Mary E. Shea
Introduction I have rarely met a person who does not have personal opinions about abortion. Many have opinions that are deeply held, and often these strong opinions are spiritually or religiously based. This article is not about personal, religious or…
Read Full ArticleLaw Related Education Wraps Up 2025 Idaho High School Mock Trial Competition by Carey A. Shoufler
2025 Idaho Mock Trial Champions, The Ambrose School. The Idaho Law Foundation’s Law Related Education Program hosted its annual High School Mock Trial State Championship from Tuesday to Thursday, March 11 to 13. This year, students explored a criminal case…
Read Full ArticleABA Midyear Report: Lawyers and the Rule of Law by R. Jonathan Shirts
A Phoenix sunrise for the meeting. Photo credit: Jonathan Shirts. “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”[i] “Let me explain; no, there is too much. Let me sum up.”[ii] I started writing this about six weeks after…
Read Full ArticleBeyond the Criminal Sentence: How Understanding Parole Can Strengthen Criminal Defense Representation by Valeri M. Kiesig
Everyone involved in the criminal justice system should know the nuts and bolts of what parole entails. Why? Because every time someone receives an imposed prison term with any indeterminate time, they have been sentenced to the uncertainties of the…
Read Full ArticleCitizen’s Arrests: A Caution Against Reinventing the Wheel on Clarke DUI Cases by Travis E. Rice
Let’s take the cuffs off and address the elephant in the room. When the Idaho Supreme Court released their decision in Clarke, that an officer could no longer make a warrantless arrest unless the officer witnessed a completed misdemeanor “in…
Read Full ArticlePreserving and Restoring Firearms Rights, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Government by Adam J. Ondo
Firearms are an integral part of Idaho culture. It is not unusual to see someone open carrying a pistol at your local supermarket or to overhear a hunter talking about shooting some ducks with his 870 Wingmaster. This is not…
Read Full ArticleDepartment Reports by Abby L. Kostecka and Teresa A. Baker
Admissions Report by Abby Kostecka The Idaho State Bar Admissions Department administers the rules governing admission to the practice of law in Idaho. Attorneys can be admitted by taking the Idaho Bar Examination, transferring a Uniform Bar Examination (“UBE”) score…
Read Full ArticleCommissioner’s Column: Dementia—Options for Paths to Prevention, Detection, and Treatment by Hon. Robert L. Jackson
If you have not read the excellent article in the March/April 2025 Advocate entitled “Balancing the Scales: Practicing Law While Managing Mental Illness,”[1] please do. That anonymous author presented many of the points I had intended to make with this…
Read Full ArticleThe State Public Defender Act: Continuing the Journey of Public Defense in Idaho by Jordan S. Crane
It’s June of 2005. I’m in the first days of what would become a decades long career as a public defender. On my desk is a three-foot stack of files, inherited from my predecessor, representing the cases set for court…
Read Full ArticleCall for Volunteers to Serve on Idaho State Bar MCLE Task Force
Continuing Legal Education requirements ensure that attorneys in Idaho are maintaining competence in the practice of law and are current and up to date on legal developments and legislative changes. Additionally, mandatory education’s inclusion of an ethical component reinforces attorneys’…
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